Bill Livingston’s Thoughts on Kyrie Irving

Irving is not that quick, but he is considered the lone can’t-miss player in the draft — provided the toe injury that sidelined him for most of Duke’s games does not recur. Evidence in the NCAA Tournament was that Irving was just fine. So the Cavs’ rebuilding moves at a pace that, if not quite up to that of the very quickest point guards, is still rapidly accelerated.

I will concede that I was not excited about winning the lottery. I was pleased, but the 48 points Dirk dropped on OKC filled me with more excitement than the prospect of landing Kyrie Irving does. (Those contested jumpers!) This Livingston column reminds me that I’m being sorta silly; Cleveland fans should be enjoying their newfound hope.

11 Responses to “Bill Livingston’s Thoughts on Kyrie Irving”

I think part of the reason Irving doesn’t excite is just the comparisons from recent drafts: He’s good, but he’s no Wall (and certainly no Rose). As a Longhorns fan, I’m more sold on the All-Star potential of Williams (or even Knight, to be honest), but you guys have a logjam at the 4. Curious to see what the Cavs do with those picks!

I really think Kyrie can be very very good. Smart, crafty and not a stiff, he has the upside to be a chris paul type point guard, and you can never underrate the coaching he’s received already from Coach K.

On a different note, I came across this post with some outstanding Sports commercials. Check them out! http://bit.ly/mlXFv1

In my opinion the Cavs absolutely, 100% need to draft Williams with the first overall pick. With securing the number 1 and number 4 overall draft picks there are 3 potential point guards in the top 5 and only one SF with star potential (being Williams). Not to mention Williams has more of a body of experience than Irving, and the Arizona beat Irving’s blue devils (yeah its a team sport but williams and irving had big roles in that game). I know people knock on Kemba Walker’s height, but the guy resembles Dwayne Wade talent and can close games out as wel saw in the NCAA tourny. Take Williams first and then Walker or Knight with the 4th Cavs!

I agree with Chris. Derrick Williams has the chance to be an ELITE scorer, Isos, moving without the ball, running the floor, off the dribble, post ups, shooting off screens, and spot up shots, he can score any way. Irving is good but has an injury risk, and a very small sample size of work. I think Williams is much closer to being “Can’t Miss.”

I’m sorry, but is there any reason that Derrick Williams is just the next Marvin Williams? Point guard is a much safer pick, I don’t think you can miss easily with a top playmaker. Besides, in the modern game the point guard is becoming more and more like a quarterback or offensive general. We absolutely need a potential All-Star at PG, especially with Byron Scott as our coach, if the Cavs are to be successful. I think the #1 should be a no-brainer, Kyrie Irving. The people talking themselves into drafting Williams are just going to end up with the next Beasley or Marvin Wiliams, in my opinion. A tweener who can’t rebound and who plays away from the basket much of the time? This smack of a potential bust to me.

Kyle, your argument doesn’t hold water. Marvin Williams wasn’t even the best player on his team at North Carolina. He only averaged 11 points a game. It was just a bad draft pick. As for the Beasley comparison? How about 38% three point shooting versus 57% three point shooting on 2.2 and 1.9 attempts per game respectively. Derrick Williams shot 19% better, while shooting almost the same amount of shots. He shot 58% from the field and has more blocks and steals than Beasley did. Yes, he’s not as good of a rebounder. Oh yeah, his shooting percentage from three? 25% better than Anthony in college. The comparison to Derrick Williams is Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, not Beasly and Marvin Williams.

Irving was measured at the draft combine at 10.3% body fat. Probably a major reason why he hasn’t had that lightning quick speed, but is definitely something that can be fixed.

I have a problem with people arguing to take Williams #1 and Knight #4. Sure, that could be the best combo, but what if Knight gets taken by the Jazz? Then we would be out of a big PG prospect. My opinion: don’t be fancy, just take the best player on the board, which appears to be Irving.

BTW, Enes Kanter looks very impressive at the combine and is earning top his 5 hype.

It’s hard to knock Derrick Williams, but I think we have to pick Irving. Especially if the alternate plan is to take Williams and get a guard later. The gap between Irving and the rest of the guards is too big.

Irving is a guy with no knocks against him. Walker has two or three big ones: size, passing ability, and outside shooting. Knight is thought to have good size, but Kyrie measured as slightly taller than him. Knight’s strongest skill is his shooting ability, and yet Kyrie is a better shooter than him. None of these guys is going to be Derrick Rose or even Gilbert Arenas with their scoring ability, so we need our pick to at least be a good passer and savvy floor general. That’s Kyrie Irving.

Just because a lot of superathletic point guards are prominent in the league right now, doesn’t mean guys can’t succeed by bringing different strengths. Remember Andre Miller, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, and Chris Paul? Point guard will always be a position where skills matter.

And don’t forget, he was the best player on a team that returned it’s NCAA-championship-winning core. As a freshman. That’s really impressive.

As for Derrick Williams comparisons, how about this: David West meets Kevin Martin. His scoring efficiency as a sophomore in college was absolutely historic. He will be a very good, efficient, and multi-faceted scorer in the NBA. But will he be much more? His strength and toughness will help him as a rebounder, but based on what he’s done and his lack of height (for the 4), he’ll be above-average at best and will probably just hold his own as an NBA rebounder. He hasn’t really shown any ability as a playmaker (similar to Kevin Martin). And I don’t know about his defense. How he fares on D will probably determine whether he’s good or great in the NBA. But I think it’s clear that he’ll be a fairly specialized player (scorer), at least on offense.

Irving may not be able to carry the team with his scoring, but ideally we will start building a team with enough talent that no one player needs to do all the scoring. Besides doing his share of scoring, Irving will make plays for teammates, and space the floor as a shooter. Some of the big guys in this draft (available at #4) will rebound, defend the paint, post up, and maybe even make plays. From a team perspective, having those things will be just as crucial as pure scoring talent.

I have two main concerns with Derrick Williams. First is that I really wonder if he’ll have a position to play in the NBA. There seems to be a good chance he gets abused defensively by both PFs and SFs in the pros. Also, while he is a great shooter I seriously wonder about his ability to create shots for himself and for others. We need a guy who can create shots, and I think that would be Irving over Williams. There are just too many ifs with Derrick Williams for me to be sold on him as a #1. You always go with the can’t miss at 1, and that’s Irving.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

Follow Me On Twitter

General NBA

Other Places To Find My Work

The Comment Monster

A monster lives in the comments section of Cavs: The Blog, and he likes to feed on comments. We have very little idea about when he will strike. What we do know is that comments with 2 or more links will get filed into the spam folder, as will comments with foul or discriminatory language. The comment monster also seems to enjoy extra-long comments, so if you have a long comment, you may want to press copy before submitting a long comment and break it into multiple pieces if the monster eats it. If you are having particular trouble with the monster, email one of us and we will talk to him for you.